PlayStation fans have been waiting for Sony to launch their virtual world known as PlayStation Home for quite some time now. While it was originally unveiled in March of 2007, Sony has failed to meet deadlines to get it released.

New news comes to us today from a couple of sources, saying that Sony is, in fact, committed to getting PlayStation Home at least open for a beta launch before the end of the year. Key people at Sony are describing the launch of the beta of PlayStation Home as “imminent.”

It seems that many PlayStation users are very much looking forward to the launch of PlayStation Home, but we have to question the true usefulness of the application. Many things about the actual delivery and cost of PlayStation Home are still a mystery. Several reports have insisted that it will be more than a download or a firmware update.

Judging by the reaction to some of the recent attempts to expand the social networking side of consoles by both Microsoft and Nintendo, PlayStation Home has the potential to be a big hit or a terrible flop, depending who you ask. Still, the concept does push the boundaries of what is possible for a console to do; and this is something that is necessary to evolve the platform in general.